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By Sam Weisberg

Corp. hopes to become a chief consolidator among air pollution technology systems providers following its transformative, $210 million acquisition of Met-Pro last month, said CEO Jeff Lang.

The Cincinnati-based company has cleaned up with acquisitions this year. In addition to Met-Pro, it acquired Netherlands-based gas turbine exhaust system manufacturer Aarding Thermal Acoustics for $31.8 million in February, and in January it bought California-based Adwest Technologies, an air pollution systems provider with $12 million in annual revenue.

While the Met-Pro purchase was on the large side for the company, CECO is not slowing down its acquisition strategy and wants to “step on the accelerator,” said Lang.

“This was our first group of acquisitions in five years. We’ve done a lot of organic growth, which is fine, but it takes a very long time,” said Lang. “It’s a hyper-fragmented sector, with hundreds of companies in the $25-$50 million revenue range, and it’s ripe for smart acquisitions.”

The Met-Pro transaction has left CECO with a multi-varied portfolio of products. While one of CECO’s competitors might make one type of air filtration device, for example, CECO can now offer a suite of products, such as Met-Pro’s Flex-Kleen dust collecting technology, or its fume and gas scrubbers, Lang explained.

So what’s left for CECO to get its hands on?

Selective catalytic reactors (SCRs), which are widely used in the US and China to control nitrogen oxide emissions, is an area where CECO has considered designing its own technology. But it may take the shorter road and acquire a company in either country that already builds SCRs, said Lang. CECO has been growing organically in China for eight years, and it could efficiently build up its sales, engineering and product capacity there through acquisitions, he said.

CECO also wants more of a footprint with its inlet air filtration product, used in the natural gas sector, which it could build out through acquisitions. It will seek to expand Met-Pro’s liquid filtration and pump products line, as well as Aarding’s downstream natural gas-related business, through additional purchases, said Lang.

Asked why so many independents are still standing in the air pollution technology space, Lang replied, “There’s no one answer for that. Some companies that are small want to remain small. Some want to retire and monetize, or turn the business over to up-and-comers.”

As of February 28, CECO had $7.7 million in cash and $2.2 million left on its bank facility. provided $125 million in debt financing for the Met-Pro deal. Its market cap is $221.5 million.

Sam Weisberg has written for Mergermarket since 2007 and covers the automotive, transportation and waste management sectors.